Elena Ferrante declared Elsa Morante’s début novel Menzogna e sortilegio (1948) ‘fundamental’ to her literary formation. The novel is now available unabridged in English for the first time as Lies and Sorcery, in a brilliant translation by Jenny McPhee.
Like Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet, Morante’s novel begins with the loss of the woman closest to the narrator, propelling a first-pers ... (read more)
Lily Patchett
Lily Patchett is a PhD student in Italian Studies at The University of Sydney. Her thesis traces the role of mysticism in Elena Ferrante’s female symbolic to three of her most prominent influences: Clarice Lispector, Anna Maria Ortese, and Elsa Morante. In 2022, she won The Beauchamp Prize for her essay ‘The Weak Messianic Power of Elena Ferrante’s Feminism’.